Lost Circulation Solutions

Reduce drilling time and cost. Avoid the cost of lost fluid and circulation

The margins in land, offshore and deepwater drilling operations are tighter than ever before, which means that any unplanned fluid losses – and the associated NPT – can significantly impact on your well’s economic performance.

The risk of lost circulation is present most wells, and increases in weak and fractured formation, or when exploring new reservoirs beneath depleted zones. At these greater depths, hydrocarbon sources are found within complex geologic structures.

As drilling complexity increases, the need for an effective wellbore strengthening strategy to prevent and cure lost circulation increases too. Wellbore strengthening strategies minimize the likelihood of lost circulation by strengthening the wellbore and arresting fracture growth. The result is an increased tolerance of higher downhole pressures under drilling and cementing conditions.

Wellbore strengthening strategies engineered to prevent fluid loss

Before developing a wellbore strengthening strategy engineered to prevent fluids and lost circulation – our fluids specialists take the time to understand your drilling plan and formation. After carefully selecting from Newpark proprietary mechanical wellbore stabilization products, a solution is engineered to address modeled loss rate severities and fracture geometries. Additionally, we anticipate potential issues to ensure that back-up options are available to remediate unexpected fluid loss challenges encountered during drilling.

The most effective wellbore strengthening strategy is to run products for the entire section to seal fractures soon as they begin to form thus preventing induced fractures from growing. Using wellbore strengthening materials in sweeps or dedicated pills is recommended only when downhole tools prevent whole fluid treatments.

Prevent and quickly fix fluid losses in induced and naturally fractured reservoirs

With Newpark FIX™ wellbore strengthening additives, you can drill exposed, weak formations or depleted zones with confidence and more cost certainty. All thanks to the engineered preventative wellbore strengthening and remedial fluid loss properties of this innovative solution.

Newpark specialists model predicted fracture width and loss rate to recommend the appropriate wellbore strengthening and loss prevention strategy. Either by deploying individually or a combination of single-sack FIX additives.

PreFIX™ preventive seepage control blend is comprised of soft, compressible materials designed with an engineered particle size distribution. PreFIX™ provides excellent pressure isolation and protects the fracture tip.	More on PreFIX
ProppFIX™ is the next series in the WBS strategy for moderate loss rates. It is sized to bridge fracture apertures up to 1mm to form a seal. ProppFIX blend performance is maximized when used with PreFIX™ seepage control blend.	More on ProppFIX
FracFIX™ is a remedial blend to bridge and plug natural and induced fractures with apertures up to 2mm to stop propagation. FracFIX blend performance is maximized when used with PreFIX™ seepage control and ProppFIX™ bridging blends.	More on FracFIX

Reduce the cost of high fluid losses in challenging onshore and offshore formations

X-Prima high fluid loss squeeze provides deep sealing in natural and induced fractures, vugular formations, severely depleted sands and rubble zones.

In formations with increased risk of lost circulation and high fluid losses, X-Prima has been proven to significantly reduce fluid losses and save days of NPT in both land, offshore and deepwater applications.

X-Prima™ fluid loss squeeze is a proprietary blend of granular and fibrous materials in a one-sack, high-solids formulation. X-Prima squeeze material is particularly effective in the remediation of severe lost circulation and in cases where conventional LCM and cement plugs have failed.

Bridging materials for lost circulation applications

Newpark offers a range of lost circulation materials to bridge across the pore throat or fractures to help form filter cake to prevent drlling fluid loss.

NewPlug™ lost circulation material (LCM) is comprised of groundnut hulls screened to provide an optimum particle size for all degrees of lost circulation. Fine, medium and coarse grades are available.	More on NewPlug
NewSeal™ lost circulation material (LCM) consists of deformable carbon particles selectively sized to efficiently plug porous formations and control wellbore seepage loss in all types of drilling fluid systems.NewCarb™ lost circulation material (LCM) is a finely ground limestone rock available in fine, medium and coarse grades over a wide particle size range.	More on NewSeal
NewCarb™ Plus bridging agent is a fully acid soluble, ground pure marble with a hardness (Mohs) of 2 or higher. NewCarb Plus is available in the following median particle sizes (d50): 10, 25, 50, 150 and 400.

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